A harbourside crowd of more than 200 people shouted "bastard", "kill him" and "you should die" as a man suspected of the first murder in more than half a century on the picturesque Italian island of Lipari was hustled aboard a boat to be taken into custody.

Roberto Cannistra, a 36-year-old labourer, was arrested after forensic investigators told the prosecutor overseeing the case that his DNA had been found in a blood stain in the victim's bathroom, a source close to the investigation told the Guardian.

Eufemia Biviano, a cleaning lady in her 60s, was found on Christmas Eve with her throat slashed.

It was the first murder since 1955 on Lipari, one of the Aeolian islands off Sicily. Carabinieri officers took saliva samples from several dozen islanders which were then examined at the force's laboratory in Messina.

Cannistra was a neighbour of the victim. Both lived in Quattropani, a village with a population of barely 800 inhabitants, about 4 miles from the port of Lipari.